the oldest women's group blog on the net just got older... err... newer? ...something.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Let It Bleed

This is a piece that was written for the 2004 production of Yoni Ki Baat (literally "Talks of the Vagina"), a South Asian spin on The Vagina Monologues put on by San Francisco-based South Asian Sisters.

One morning in fifth grade, I was just going about my usual business: brushed my teeth, pulled my pants down to pee...

"Oh my God... I shit in my pants!!!"

I was mortified by my rectal incompetence!

But wait, it didn't really look like shit; it was brown, but it had more of a soupy texture.I didn't know what to do with this, so I just took off my chaddi and presented it to my mom.

At first even she was surprised.

"You didn't get hurt, right?"

"I don't think so; I never felt anything there."

"OK, well... it looks like you got your period."

Oh. I remembered her telling me about this period thing. I would start bleeding every month because later I would have to have a baby, and I couldn't go to the temple when I had this thing, but I thought that was going to be when I was 13 or 14, not 10!

"So what do I do now??"

"Ek minute."

She went to the closet and came back with a small green package.

"This is a maxi-pad. You just tape it to your underwear so it covers the hole where you are bleeding from- you know, that is where the baby comes from. Do you want me to tape it for you?"